US correspondent for Fairfax Media

A collection of letters and notes has shed light on the thoughts of Hillary Clinton after her husband Bill's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Photo: AP

Washington: A previously unpublished cache of papers has revealed that Hillary Clinton viewed Monica Lewinsky, the intern with whom her husband had an affair while president, as a "narcissistic loony toon".

The papers are part of the notes and archives of the political science professor Diane Blair, a close friend of Mrs Clinton's, that have been held by the University of Arkansas since Professor Blair's death in 2000.

Though open to the public since 2010 they have become the focus of media attention since being accessed and reported upon by the conservative website The Washington Free Beacon, which published stories about them on Sunday night in the United States.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky in 1998. Hillary Clinton called her a "narcissistic loony toon". Photo: Reuters

According to its analysis the documents - which include correspondence, diaries, interviews, strategy memos and contemporaneous accounts of conversations with the Clintons from the mid-1970s - paint "a portrait of a ruthless First Lady" who was a "loyal friend, devoted mother, and a cut-throat strategist who relished revenge against her adversaries".

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Mrs Clinton is favoured to become the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and Republican foes have already begun their political opposition to such a run.

The Washington Free Beacon quotes a research paper from the archive written by senior Clinton aides in 1992 as warning that "what voters find slick in Bill Clinton, they find ruthless in Hillary".

The archive also shows that Mrs Clinton supported a government-funded health care system, a position that apparently contradicts her public position since.

The collection of papers shows how Mrs Clinton supported her husband through the Lewinsky scandal.

"[Hillary] is not trying to excuse [Bill Clinton]; it was a huge personal lapse. And she is not taking responsibility for it," Blair wrote of a conversation with Mrs Clinton.

"But, she does say this to put his actions in context. Ever since he took office they've been going thru personal tragedy ([the death of] Vince [Foster], her dad, his mom) and immediately all the ugly forces started making up hateful things about them, pounding on them."

Professor Blair adds in her notes: "It was a lapse, but she says to his credit he tried to break it off, tried to pull away, tried to manage someone who was clearly a "narcissistic loony toon"; but it was beyond control. And, HRC insists, no matter what people say, it was gross inappropriate behaviour but it was consensual (not a power relationship) and was not sex within any real meaning (standup, liedown, oral, etc.) of the term. As an aside, they got a letter from a psychologist who does family therapy and sexual infidelity problems: most men with fidelity problems raised by two women and felt conflicted between them, he'd read about Bill's bio; grandmother despised Virginia, tried to get custody of Bill; Bill adored by his mother but she left him, etc etc."

She goes on to note that Mrs Clinton is "in it for long haul. Party because she's stubborn; partly her upbringing; partly her pride - but, mostly because she knows who she is and what her values and priorities are and she's straight with those - she really is okay."

Other documents show how the Clinton camp prepared memos on President Clinton's infidelity as far back as 1992.

Professor Blair wrote that days after President Clinton's impeachment in 1998 Mrs Clinton called her in good spirits.

"[Hillary] sounded very up, almost jolly," wrote Blair. "Told me how she and Bill and Chelsea had been to church, to a Chinese restaurant, to a Shakespeare play, greeted everywhere with wild applause and cheers - this, she said is what drives their adversaries totally nuts, that they don't bend, do not appear to be suffering."

Time magazine, which has also had access to some of the papers since the original news report, writes that they "represent a collection of thoughtful reflections and evolving positions on Clinton's part, rather than a smoking gun of anything damning, or even surprising.

"But they do offer a colourful look into the thoughts of the former first lady."

Its analysis highlights Mrs Clinton's significant role in her husband's presidency from its earliest days and her frustration at the slow pace of decision making in Washington and in the White House.

At times Mrs Clinton despaired "that nobody in WH tough and mean enough" and that Congress was "a bunch of whiners; no courage".